


Welcome to the Team

by tptigger



Category: Power Rangers Dino Thunder
Genre: F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-22
Updated: 2015-08-22
Packaged: 2018-04-16 15:54:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,630
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4631208
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tptigger/pseuds/tptigger
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After they made Trent wash the zords they had to make it up to him somehow.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Welcome to the Team

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Mara](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mara/gifts).



Trent carried the squeegee, bucket, spray bottle and dust rags into the utility room of the lair, wincing a bit as he pulled at his tired arm to set the squeegee on the top shelf. Washing the zords was a big job and he hoped it was normally an automated sort of thing.

Or at least not a solitary activity. Not that he'd been alone the whole time. Dr. O had spent a good hour lecturing Trent: about his life as a Ranger in high school, that Trent could talk to Dr. O about anything, that Dr. O had been evil too, and more Ranger Nutrition tips than Trent really wanted to think about at the moment.

Trent was just settling the now empty bucket onto a shelf when he heard footsteps approaching. He sighed. What did Dr. O want now?

Trent turned, eyebrows raising as he realized it was Conner standing in front of him. Was his initiation not over yet? "Am I washing your car now too?" 

Conner rubbed the bridge of his nose, shifting his weight from foot to foot."Naw, dude, team bonding at Ethan's place. He and Kira are setting up the Game Cube."

It was all Trent could do not to gape. "Kira's setting up the Game Cube? She doesn't strike me as a hard core gamer."

"She isn't. However, Ethan is not good at figuring out how to do these things and Kira is highly skilled at reading the directions."

"Ethan's game cube wasn't set up?"

"His mom had a book club meeting so they're setting it up at my house."

Trent blinked. Without Conner there? "OK. What are we doing?"

"Getting the snacks," Conner said. "Hayley's making us smoothies to go and there's pizza to be picked up and we'll need to make a grocery run."

"Please tell me we're not seriously going to the produce aisle?"

"Doctor O gave you the junk food talk already?" Conner asked.

"Yeah," Trent said.

"He's exaggerating," Conner said. "Or possibly making up for the fact that his freshman 15 was actually a freshman 30 by warning us about the dangers of over eating once we ditch the Ranger metabolisms."

Trent followed Conner up the stairs. "So I should believe him about the Ranger metabolism thing?" Trent asked.

"Yes!" Conner turned around, watching Trent climb out into the main part of Dr. O's house. "Haven't you noticed you're hungry all the time?"

Trent shrugged, fascinated as Conner used the skeleton to close the trap door to the lair. "I've been kind of a mess anyway."

They let themselves out of Dr. O's house, locking the door behind them.

"Hopefully Dr. O remembered his key," Conner remarked as he led Trent to his car.

Trent was too tired to even ask.

* * *

Trent grabbed the smoothies and bag of junk food out of the back of Conner's car.

"Got it?" Conner asked.

Trent rolled his eyes. "I'm a waiter, I could take the pizza too."

"I've got it," Conner replied. "Head around to the back door."

"I'll follow you.

The inner door was open, and Trent could hear Ethan and Kira's good natured bickering through the screen door.

"Reading the instructions is cheating, Kira."

"You've tried it three times already, and Conner and Trent will be here any minute; this way I get it done and we can play."

"I leave the room for five minutes..."

"You've been at it for an hour already. Do you want to spend all of Trent's welcome to the team party setting up your Game Cube or playing Mario Party?"

"I vote for Mario Party!" Trent opened the door with his foot.

Conner was at his heels. "Dude, let Ethan get the door. If you spill something on Mom's rug she'll freak."

"I'll get those." Ethan relieved Trent of the smoothies. "He's got a point for once, you know. How can you carry those and the bag?"

"Waiter. I've dealt with more at the CyberSpace."

Conner set the pizza on the coffee table. "You don't have to go through doors at the CyberSpace." He left the room.

"I've been practicing; Hayley's talking about adding outdoor seating." Trent started unpacking the chips (and lone veggie tray, in deference to Dr. O) and setting them out next to the pizza. "Which Mario Party?"

Ethan opened a bag of chips. "I just picked up five."

Conner blinked as he set down a stack of plates and napkins. "There's more than one?"

"Cool," Trent said. "I've been meaning to pick that up."

Ethan stared, the chip in his hand forgotten halfway to his mouth. "You didn't run out and get it the minute it was out?"

"I've been kind of busy being evil; also Dad thinks video games are a waste of time."

"Mine too," Ethan said, "but they did actually help my hand-eye coordination and my grades are good so he dropped it. I have to buy my own games though."

Trent snorted. "Trade you. I buy my own art supplies but Dad still gives me a ton of grief."

Conner heaped three slices of pizza onto his plate. "Ethan's probably would if he said he wanted to be a game designer."

"Trent you might want to grab pizza fast, before Conner eats it all." Kira placed two slices on her own plate.

"You're helping!" Conner pointed out.

Ethan snorted. "Ignore them, they do this. My Dad actually said if I majored in CS he wasn't going to argue."

"Mine basically said if my soccer obsession means he only has to pay Eric's college tuition he's all for it, but not to even think about doing it professionally because it's too risky." Conner rolled his eyes, ringing the pizza stack with carrots and pea pods from the veggie play.

"I had to sneak in my application to Berklee." Kira added veggies to her plate as well and flopped in the middle of the couch. "My parents want me to double with something not music, and all I can think of is music education."

"There are worse things than being a teacher." Ethan tore the cellophane off of the game. "Ask Dr. O."

"No more today, please. The whole time I was washing the zords, he was hanging out, telling me stories about his two days as the Evil Green Ranger and that he was there if I wanted to talk and..." Trent threw up his arms and flopped back onto the sofa, right next to Kira.

"I knew I should've come by earlier," Conner said.

"Did he mention all the other formerly evil Rangers?" Kira asked around a mouth full of pizza. "They have a support group and everything."

Trent fell towards the side of the couch, burying his face in one of the couch cushions. "More of them? If they're half as bad as Dr. O, I'm in real trouble."

"He has tons of Ranger friends, but we haven't met any of them," Kira said. "You might be safe for awhile."

"I hope so."

"You want to talk about it, dude?" Conner asked.

Trent stared. "What?"

"I asked..."

"Yeah, but two hours ago you guys were ready to fight me. Not that I'm complaining about the invite, but you want to talk? Just like that? It's not like giving the Zords a wash was going to fix anything."

"You're not the only one Dr. O gave a lecture to."

"Ethan! Dude!"

"Look, Conner, if Dr. O's already driving Trent crazy, the least we can do is let Trent know that Dr. O has his back." Ethan gestured with his pizza. 

"He has my back?" Trent straightened out, reaching for a plate. "By lecturing you?"

"About how he's only been able to do as much good as he has because his original team believed in him enough to break the spell and convince him that he could be a force for good," Kira said.

"You sound like you'd heard it before," Ethan said. "More than just this afternoon."

Kira blushed.

"Details?" Conner asked, grabbing a throw pillow off of the couch to make enough room to sit down and lobbing it at Kira playfully.

Kira caught the pillow and sat on it. "Classified." She threw Trent a nervous look.

Trent looked away.

Conner leaned back against the couch, throwing his head back. "Are you two going to seriously tiptoe around each other all night?"

"Dude, not subtle." Ethan covered his eyes with his hand.

"We don't have time for subtle," Conner said. "We're Power Rangers; Dr. O is stuck in morph..."

"Sorry about that."

"Don't apologize for things that weren't you, Trent. As I was saying, who knows what could happen next. You need to carp a dame."

Trent wrinkled his nose. "Do what?"

"He means carpe diem," Ethan said. "I think."

"Dude, that movie Kira brought over last week. With Robin Williams as the English teacher?"

"Dead Poet's Society," Kira supplied. "So yeah, he means carpe diem."

Trent turned to Kira. "You want to go to the Jazz festival with me on Friday night?"

"Yes." Kira ducked her head towards Trent and away from Conner and Ethan.

"Thanks, that saves one of us from having to go," Conner said.

Kira pulled the pillow out from under her and started hitting Conner with it. Conner knocked it out of her hands and Ethan barely caught it before it careened into his precious game console.

"Maybe we should stop throwing pillows and play Mario Party before we break something," Ethan said.

"Pizza first," Trent said around a bite. "I'm suddenly famished."

"Ranger metabolism, I'm telling you," Conner said.

Trent rolled his eyes. "Didn't Dr. O say something about a tradition of Red Rangers nagging the rest of the team."

"I learned it from watching him."

End


End file.
